Category Archives: Mouldings in Practice

It’s easy to think that there aren’t any secrets left in woodworking. But I don’t think that’s true. While a lot of the basic hand and machine skills are widely discussed and disseminated (thank you, Internet), a good deal of … Continue reading →

Many woodworkers struggle when designing their own mouldings, and that’s because they haven’t studied enough of the most common forms. Imagine trying to build a chest of drawers if you had only seen a few of them. To become fully … Continue reading →

Despite word from Tibet from my milk paint supplier that Agnes the yak was busy assembling her hope chest and flirting shamelessly with a certain strapping young specimen of yakhood, I decided that I needed to take the bull by … Continue reading →

We now have 30 copies of “Mouldings in Practice” available for sale in the Lost Art Press store. The books are hand-bound in brown calfskin by the artisans at Ohio Book Store in downtown Cincinnati. The cost is $185 postage-paid … Continue reading →

The leather editions of “Mouldings in Practice” by Matthew Sheldon Bickford are finished and ready to be picked up from the bindery. Unfortunately, I’m on a bus to Chicago today. So here’s the update: The leather books will go on … Continue reading →

Next week we will be able to sell the leather editions of “Mouldings in Practice” in our Lost Art Press store. There will be 26 to 30 copies available (depending on how many survive the binding process) and they will … Continue reading →

Here are some short updates on projects in the works at Lost Art Press. 1. “Grandpa’s Workshop” is in its final stages at the printer and should be on its way to us in the next week. Free shipping for … Continue reading →

My Personal Site & Gallery

During the last six years, I’ve built a lot of tool chests for customers. To many woodworkers, this might seem odd. Why not build one yourself? The answer is simple. Why not build your own handplanes? Your chisels? Forge the steel for your tools? Mine the iron ore and learn to transform it into steel? We all have a point at which we’ll say: Someone else can […]

The sled we use the most in our shop is the one shown here. I built it five years ago, and it is as accurate as the day I made it. I built it in response to my frustrations with fancy sliding tables, Jim-crack miter gauges and other silly devices used to crosscut wood at 90°. This sled and my panel-cutting sled handle all of my crosscutting needs. Here’s how […]

For dovetails, I use what I call a “redneck slope” – 1:4 or 14°. I like this slope because I’ve seen it on a lot of vernacular pieces I’ve studied. It says: Dovetail y’all! And not: Ill-defined box joint. But that’s just what my eye sees. Truth is, dovetail slopes are more about fashion than their mechanical properties. When I started woodworking, my head wa […]

I don’t think I’ve cut a single dovetail for eight months – my work has been mostly chairs and casework that relied on other joints. So I’m a bit out of practice. When this happens and I need to cut dovetails, I quickly default to the method I use to teach students to dovetail. This method helps build good habits when sawing and helps you fix any mistakes. T […]